Your points are extremely valid. I set up a very smooth running Linux
system for a U of H professor who was used to Macintosh. His main gripe
was when he clicked a web link in his Netscape mail it opened a web
page, but then the "Back" button didn't take him back to his mail. He
could never figure out how to use the taskbar at the bottom because at
least the earlier Macs don't have it. I've noticed Mac users are
particularly computer illiterate, and it can't always be said that Macs
are easier to use. There are some very good features in alternative
operating systems that seem to totally pass them by.
While there is great progress being made in Linux, Redhat, the alleged
leader, still produces a miserable desktop system. Yet, that is often
the distribution a new user will try. Alleged user friendly Linux
systems like Lycoris are about as slow and plodding as they come.
So you are correct. If Linux is ever to be successful on a large scale,
it will need to have full featured easy to install and easy to use
applications, and an interface that is very intuitive and user friendly.
Alleged security which often can make the computer very difficult to use
is not going to be enough to cause someone to switch.
Eric Hattemer wrote:
We're talking about business majors and secretaries, not computer
programmers. At my job if I'm trying to teach a person to for instance use
Netscape instead of Eudora, it can be well over an hour of work, and leave
them still confused.
